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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  September 10, 2010 1:00pm-2:00pm EDT

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american lives. >> the idea that we would burn th sacred texts of someone else's religion is contrary to what this country stands for. >> this hour complete analysis of today's presidential press conference. "meet the press" moderator david gregory, "washington post" eugene robinson. police karen finney and susan molinari. what have we learned from 9/11? not enough. based on their report. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama hammers republicans telling voters that the gop will bring back bush era policies that led to the economic crisis in his view if they win back control of congress this fall. nbc news chief white house correspondent chuck todd, host of the daily rundown, was in the
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front row. chuck, did he accomplish what they were trying to do, which is turn the page, revamp the economic message, and put the republicans john boehner and company on the defensive. >> well, look, i think they were trying to amplify the men of the week. this is one of those classic press conferences that went on over an hour. the term wide ranging is going to be used a lot. >> how about long-winded. >> we had a ton of topics, the first focused on the economy, one or two on the pastor, and more on the growing phobia with islam around the country. i would say he was most passionate at the end when he made a case for the right and religious freedom and for the rights of muslim americans to have the same rights as everyone else in the country. the passion he showed there was probably greater than he
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answered on any other question. frankly it's interesting. he mixed it. it was passionate and mixed in with patriotism in a way even some of his critics on this issue will say it was a very eloquent answer to say the least. >> in contrast to that, let's see what his passion, quote, unquote, was, when talking about stimulus and job growth. let's watch. if you want the same kind of skewed policies that led us to this crisis, republicans are ready to offer those. if you want policies that are moving us out, even though you're frustrated, change isn't happening as fast as you would like, then i think democrats will do fine in november. i have no problem with people saying the president is trying to stimulate growth and hiring.
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isn't that what i should be doing? i would assume that's what republican think we should be doing, stimulate growth and jobs. i will continue on trying to stimulate growth and jobs as long as i'm president of the united states. >> chuck, did he leave open going along with tax cuts for all. >> send me middle class tax extension, send me that, and we'll talk about the other stuff. this is a game that is going on between the two parties. republicans have said what about temporary two-year extension. add up two years. they would love the debate again in two years in another even numbered year, 2012. the president wants to not have the same argument -- he doesn't want middle class tax cuts to
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expire in two years, he wants them permanent. if there is a tax debate in one year or two years, the president and white house would prefer if they have to have this to have it in one year not two, then it's simply a debate about the top 3%. right now they struggle in this message war with republicans, republicans able to lump in milling class tax cuts, too. it's all lumped together. if they are ever able to split that, that's what the white house at a minimum would like to do is split these two issues and say, we'll have the middle class tax cut in place, then we can have a debate on this. >> very briefly, chuck, what's the latest of the shake-up of the white house staff, rahm emanuel heading out the door for chicago at some point. would the new chief of staff be insider, outsider? none of the above. >> i think the one thing we've learned over the past 48 hours, a lot of people in the west wing
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believe the president gave rahm some breathing room when he said he'll be able to focus on this through midterms and make a decision after the lec. when he said that in that interview with abc, listen what illinois governor pat quinn, somebody struggling said, when asked about the chicago race, he said i have to worry about my political life. there is a way to postpone, stay through so the president doesn't have to have three chiefs of staff in three months. >> that would probably be a relief to all them. thanks very much, chuck todd. join chuck and savannah for "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. and let's bring in david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. a lot here. the president wanting to turn the page, get past the recovery
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summer that wasn't a recovery summer but his first answer was at least 15 minutes. where was the energy and passion? >> well, i thought he had a little more rough-and-tumble in terms of framing the argument with the economy, what he's going to do there, negotiating on taxes. i think he's trying to frame this as a national message, we've done some things getting you in the right direction. it's republicans unreasonable. i keep pointing out 60% of voters who disapprove of the president. these are folks who have a problem with taxes and spending and the deficit. they have a problem with how washington isn't working very well right now. to the extent he can cast republicans as being totally unreasonable, he's better off. on the tax issue, these corporate tax breaks, i've talked to business leaders who are very supportive of the president on this. they say this is late, where was this before, this is exactly what they want to see. i think it may be an interesting
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piece with all the broader debate about individual tax cuts. >> putting republicans on the spot because their own supporters, their constituency want these, 100% depreciation, those kinds of write-offs, gene. seems to me there was a little harry truman in the strategy, do nothing congress, something everyone should agree on. >> exactly. i thought that was the strongest part of the economic portion of the news conference. he did put the republicans on and said, look, this is something your constituents want, republicans always support, and yet it's been stalled for partisan reasons. i thought that was effective. overall it was kind of the white house almost frankly profess or
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ial version. this mail order pastor from this cult-like church, i put my own context around this right now, this conflagration and the way it's being perceived overseas is serious. we've already had loss of life over this. the president being asked today, let's watch, about whether they bear responsibility for general petraeus and others speaking out on it and, of course, bob gates calling the pastor? >> my hope is that this individual prays on it and refrar refrains from doing it. my hope is we don't have folks all across the country think this is the way to get attention. this is a way of endanger our troops, fathers and mothers,
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husbands and wives sacrificing for us to keep us safe. you don't play games with that i hardly think we're the ones who elevated this story, but it is in the age of the internet something that can cause us profound damage around the world. so we've got to take it seriously. a tough question for them all week. it has been. they were working it so hard behind the scenes, national security virus deciding it would be the military that would take the lead. did they do the right thing? >> i don't know the answer to that they made a decision for general petraeus come out and say, this is a problem. you think what he's doing. he has his own pr campaign, trying to hang the atrocities the taliban is responsible for around their next. he doesn't need even a small incident to be made much larger
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in that part of the world because of what a small, you know, pastor is doing here in florida. so it's a very real concern. the president alluded to that. it does elevate it when the president speaks about it. they made a decision they can't allow it to move forward without it being checked. >> the impact in the muslim world where this has already caused damage? >> it has. they were between a rock and a hard place, the administration was. you don't want to give publicity to this guy on the fringe of a fringe, quite frankly, with a checkered past who has come up with this stunt. at the same time the president mentioned the internet. i'm sure petraeus and gates and hillary clinton and the president were imaging the impact of a youtube clip of koran's flame in the united states, how quickly, how
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instantaneously that would spread around the world and what impact it would have not only in the war theaters but on public opinion, you know, in other countries where we don't have a problem. so i guess they felt they had to do something. i think they were probably right. >> imagine their frustration after cairo speech, istanbul, issues with hillary clinton going and trying to restart peace talks, the frustration they have to see this ridiculous episode blowing up their relationship with the muslim world. >> it's a note the president went out of his way to praise president bush today. the thing i most admired about him, which is not a preamble i've heard. >> what are the other two things you've admired. >> i don't think there's a lot. he makes a point that the way president bush talks about this not being a war on muslims.
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deemphasize the global scale and the need to understand how muslims in this country are standing shoulder to shoulder with us. we can't move in a direction of anti-muslim sentiment if we're going to prevail over all. >> we'll leave it there. that is a good note to end on this eve of the commemoration. thank you gene robinson and david gregory. >> we'll be talking to david axelrod and former mayor rudy giuliani. coming up, is president obama giving republicans the upper hand on the economy. your thoughts, find me on twitter@mitchell reports. is that it allows me to be outside. [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ]
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today the president argues he is the one trying to boost the economy while republicans sit on the sidelines. >> there is no doubt everything we've been trying to do has been trying to stimulate growth and additional jobs in the economy. that's our entire agenda. so i have no problem with people saying the president is trying to stimulate growth and hiring. isn't that what i should be doing? i would assume that's what the republicans think we should do, to stimulate growth and jobs. and i will keep on trying to stimulate growth and jobs for as long as i'm president of the united states. >> now, the president, of course, also talked about the controversy down in florida. and down in florida pastor jones
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approaching the micro phone. >> announcement and challenge to give to the imam in new york. a friend of mine here, we have been praying together the last couple of days, dr. paul. he is a very well-known evangelist. a magazine called him the most popular evangelist in the world. we would like to make an announcement and, like i said, give a challenge to the imam in new york. thank you. >> and as we leave florida, we go back to new york. jonathan and mark halperin, let's talk about the president's news conference first and how he tried to handle issues. jonathan, this has been a tough balancing act for the white house. how do you think he approached it? >> he's just got to get out there and fight.
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this is of a piece of the two speeches he's made in the last two days. he doesn't have a lot of experience in news conferences. he's more comfortable in one-on-one news conferences. he's held very few but he knows he has to use every weapon at his disposal to make the argument. politic, as you know so well, andrea, is about winning an argument in this national conversation we have all day long. while he's achieved a lot in office as a lot of people recognize, he hasn't been effective until now in framing the argument. this is his effort to hit the three-point shot at the buzzer, as he likes to say. >> mark halperin, in trying to keep the message on the economy, these distractions, these are the kind of things that happen to presidents, what the oval office is about. >> obviously the world in which
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we live is going to be overwhelmed by the media and events. i think he did a good job today on driving a message on the economy. for the next few months he'll be facing a lot more challenges, things we can't anticipate. the difficulty jonathan talked about dealing with the reality much of the economic news is bad, much of the country is hurting. democrats are not talking up what the white house has done or what the president is proposing now. that does not give him a big army to fight with either on defending the past or doubting the past or talking up his current proposals. >> jonathan alter, the proposals, how well is he framing them now, trying to draw distinctions between the democrats and republicans? it's a tough men partly because of the way the tax cut is framed. it's set to expire unless they act affirmatively. you have to deal with double
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negatives. these don't fit on bumper stickers. >> what does fit on bumper sticker, he has a problem with cogency, tax cuts for the rich or middle america. that's the choice. he's got a plan to build on the infrastructure that began last year. republicans want to extend tax cuts for those making over $250,000. this is a good issue for him. even in this news conference it wasn't stated starkly enough. most busy people don't have time to sort through the double negatives and complexities of washington. they need a straight up choice and he needs to get sharper in the way he frames that choice. >> and mark halperin, you were the first to say it could be a tidal wave, tsunami, it could be 60 seats. where do you stand today, especially watching the relaunch
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at this news conference? >> nothing in this press conference or the last week has altered my view that democrats do not have anything right now in their arsenal to stop a wave. what they have and what they are trying to do is pick-off individual races where they can save members by disqualifying republicans. that is right now, two months to go, not something that's doing to work in many case because it's going to be at this point very big, not just in house races but senate races as well. right now the president is not leading a counter-force that's fog to stop that wave. >> i'm not sure i agree with that, actually, andrea. mark is right, it's too soon to know. these campaigns kick off on labor day. he's had a pretty good week. he can nationalize this. if he states the choice starkly enough, drives it home, maybe challenges boehner and mcconnell
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to appear with him and biden, appear in a debate -- i don't think that would be lowering the presidency -- to have that conversation, you could see the issues crystallize, not gain seats but limit their losses. >> in a lightning round, one-word answer, anybody have a favorite pick, jonathan, for chief of staff? >> i think either tom donnellin or jarrett. >> he should pick a centrist or business person but he won't. >> thank you both. advice or insight from jonathan alter and mark halperin. thanks. up next, why democrats may wait until after november to take on bush tax cuts. later still family and friends of 9/11 victims making a special request as the nation marks the ninth anniversary of the terror attacks. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. percent of muscle per decade? try...
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when congress returns next week the hot topic in the chamber will be the proposed extension of the bush tax cuts. polit co-congressional editor martin joins us. let's talk about the timing and what the democrats are hoping to do. >> they have had nine years to decide whether or not to extend tax cuts. they are at the end of the year, final four weeks before midterm elections and they don't have consensus. the democrats don't seem to be able to push this over the finish line. a couple of democrats especially in the senate, moderate democrats starting to peel away and say maybe we shouldn't raise taxes even on the upper 3% of income earners. they are going to hunt this into pa lame duck. they don't want to have an increase after what is looking like a bad election for them. >> they have never won on tax
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increase votes. go back to walter mondale and the famous quince speech in '84. it should not be forgotten the whole point of putting this in nine or ten year, it was a budget agreement poth sides were agreeing to. they didn't want the extra costs on the unlg line. >> they put the provisions into the tax code, the ten-year sun set so the long-term deficits debate quite look as bad. a lot of these budget deficit projections assumed the expiration of all the tax cuts when they passed them in 2001. now here we are just a couple months before they expire and the democrats are facing this terrible election environment and they don't want to vote to role back top 3% of income earners. president obama has talked about it a lot in the last few days but he's starting to face resistance from democrats that don't want any tax vote. >> is what why he was leaching
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the door open in the news conference, sounding like he was in negotiation mode, line in the sand mode. >> there's a certain bit of hedging. they will say we want to roll back top income tax rates but they haven't threatened an outright veto if there's a full extension of income tax cuts or maybe a two-or three-year deal. they might want to kick the can down the road, extend tax cuts, and, hey, another congress will deal with it in two years and probably wait until the 11th hour to decide whether to suspend them again. >> when in downtown, punt. thanks for being with us. coming up, the koran controversy and 9/11 anniversary. the political fallout with our strategist karen finney and susan molinari. >> the death toll in the massive explosion outside san francisco of the latest coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time...
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a deadly san bruno fire that raged through residential community overnight is now 75% contained. the violent explosion from a ruptured natural gas line spread flames that damaged or destroyed thousands of structures. at least four people were killed. the san bruno mayor says he expects the death toll to rise. fire crews continue to monitor hot spots from homes year bolder, colorado. thousands of residents may be evacuated if winds increase and expand flames. sh sarah shourd, one of the three hikers jailed in iran will be released this weekend. no word whether the other two hikers will get their freedom. president obama called for a pastor to stop his plans for
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burning the koran. he said it puts americans in danger. kerry is live with the latest. >> reporter: well, the pastor came to the micro phone and introduced an evangelical leader who he says they have been praying a long time and represents many around the world. he went to the micro phone and laid down a challenge to the imam in new york, imam feisal rauf, working on constructing a mosque in the cultural center in lower manhattan near the world trade center, near ground zero. the challenge was call a number and tell us do we have a meeting and are you going to move that construction of a mosque and islamic cultural center there. now, the imam in new york has already said prior to this
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challenge of the next two hours call us, he's not moving it. there's no plans to move it. he doesn't even have plans to meet with pastor jones. so it would appear the pastor here might be trying to extort some sort of move this new york or put some pressure on. all i can say, when this first began, andrea, there was never a discussion about that mosque. that mosque being located near ground zero came into the picture late yesterday. prior to that, pastor jones said all along he was going to burn the muslim holy book, the koran, to send a message to extremists within the islamic faith. now it's turned into a tit for tat with new york and it appears thus far the imam in new york isn't responding and doesn't feel a need to respond. andrea. >> indeed. kerry sanders down in gainesville. for a look at the politics of this anniversary or circus or
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whatever you want to call it, let's bring in msnbc political analyst karen finney and former new york congresswoman susan molinari, both native new yorkers. perspective and a lot of experience with all this. first of all, as kerry correctly points out the whole manhattan dispute was never an issue. as he lost standing and was trivialized and started to face a lot of background inquiries into a consult-like aspect down there, he's seized one issue conservatives, people in both parties, particularly sarah palin and others, have made a major issue, which is the cultural center, which includes a mosque or prayer room down in lower manhattan. it seems, susan, this is an attempt to try to piggy back on something that has more legs than his initial. >> that's probably a fair
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assessment. i'm going to warn everybody, this is going to be bad tv. we're going to agree on that. i've been on the show saying i think we needed to have a conversation about moving the cultural center about the feelings of 9/11. it should have nothing to do with this man in florida whose been given way too much air time, credit able, national and international attention, who is really doing damage to all of our conversations and concerns. your concerns and my concerns over the cultural center, over moving forward and a date as somber as 9/11. to allow him to even be injected into this conversation is really wrong and devastating. >> i think with that announcement and the press conference he just held, if you have hi doubt about what his moss i was are, to get attention, it's pretty obvious. anybody who would do such a thing to bring that into what was clearly a completely separate matter. it's very clear what his motives
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are. i've been offended he has distorted the word of god and christianity in the same way he's claiming islami isists do. >> whatever you think of imam rauf, why should he be put on the spot when he has nothing to do with this. >> he clearly should not engage in a conversation with this man. >> i hope he stays out of it. >> people of people not staying out of it, the president, of course, being put on the spot. this is one of his answers today. >> as somebody who relies heavily on my christian faith in my job. i understand that the passions that religious faith can raise. but i'm also respectful that people of different faiths can practice their religion, even if they don't subscribe to the exact same notions that i do,
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>> he was very thoughtful and passionate about the need for religious tolerance. he also said that's one of the things he admired about former president bush. is that going to stir up the base, karen? >> it may stir up the base. remember the politics of this, we're trying to appeal to independents as wets closer to the election. one of the things he did from the perspective of commander in chief and the responsibility there to do what's right to protect our forces. clearly he didn't want to have to get into this issue in this press conference but he knew he was going to get some questions about it. >> what do you think, karen, all the speculation that mike bloomberg might end up in the white house with a post midterm election staff shake-up. >> that would be interesting forecasts what i -- listen, mayor bloomberg has done an amazing job as mayor of the city of new york. i thought he might want to wind up in the white house but not
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working for anybody, just as president bloomberg. i'd be surprised, if offered, if he took the job. >> remember the golf game on martha's vineyard. >> we have to find out who won, who lost. >> now that we have new yorkers on, karen finney, susan molinari, thank you very much. >> thank you. nine years after that day, 9/11, how have we progressed in protecting the homeland? what progresses have we made? this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ indistinct conversations ] ♪
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changing terror threats. richard, a member of the 9/11 commission, joins us. thanks for being here. >> sure. >> here we are nine years later after your report and after all the changes. how are we not prepared and how is the threat changing? >> the threat is more in the nature of dealing with home grown terrorists. i think that's what the report focuses on. the good news is we're giving less priority to the major kinds of attacks that al qaeda -- at least aspirationally was planning. >> they have not been able to deliver the large attack and were degraded. >> that's part of our huge commitment to combating al qaeda and taking down their leadership and continuing to pursue bin laden. we haven't caught him yet but he
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spends most of his time trying to figure out how to stay alive rather than planning these big attacks. so now what we're focused on is these one-off attacks. in that regard i think we need to focus on the resiliency of america to the extent we give attention and run around to the sky is falling. should one of these attacks happen where it would affect the stock market, where it would affect the political indications for the major political parties, all of those things will play right into the hands of the terrorists to make them attempt more and more of these one-off attacks. sooner or later, you know, we're not going to be as lucky as we were. they are not going to be as incompetent as they were in the recent attacks or attempted
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attacks and something will get through. we as a nation will deal with it. surely it will be a bad day when something happens. we've got to under the terrorists want to strike fear into our hearts and disrupt us and we can't let that happen. >> are you persuaded after all is said and done and the work of the commission and intelligence reforms that the right steps were taken? there is a lot of criticism of the beaurocracy that was created, director of national intelligence and its relationship with the cia, who does covert, analysis, who briefs the president. seems we have more beaurocracy and not necessarily more effectiveness. >> i think the idea was to make the dni a lean thinking group. >> it's thousands and thousands of people and a new headquarters. it's not so lean. >> that was not our intention. i think they are still trying to get it right within the government. a lot of this has to do with relationships and individuals
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holding these positions of authority. i think we have reason to have some optimism that some of the back biting and in-fighting has been reduced. we'll have to wait and see. >> is the new threat places like yemen and some other places in the horn of africa, yemen, somalia, is that what we should be looking at? >> certainly we are looking at those. we need to continue to do so particularly as it effects training for our americans who go over there. so we need to be far more aware of who is traveling where. we need to figure out the proper use of link analysis for this fire hose of information that continues to overwhelm, in some respect, our capacity to analyze the information we're collecting.
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in this regard i think we still have not seen the standing up of this civil liberties and privacy board. >> which is still a big piece. >> i think that board can play a very important role in mediating between the concerns of civil libertarians and for protecting american values and reducing the threat of intrusion, and at the same time taking advantage of the available technologies to make the job much easier in terms of linking terrorists to these plots. >> we'll have to leave it there. richard, nine years later, thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. >> tomorrow the anniversary, groups affiliated with 9/11 families are asking people to serve others as a way of remembering victims. co-founder of mygooddeed.org, one of the organizations leading the national day of service initiative. jay lost his brother, an emt and
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volunteer firefighter when the south tower of the world trade center collapsed. our continuing condolences and sympathy to you for your loss, but you're trying to transform it into something positive. jay. >> thank you, andrea. we started this initiative, my good deed and the day of service soon after the attacks and it's really grown to extraordinary proportions. people all over the country and all over the world mark this day now in service to other people. it's a great tribute to my younger brothers and all those who perished. >> how does it work? what are you planning for tomorrow? >> we ask people to engage in service are some form or good deeds that they are comfortable with, in their own comfort zone. so they can get involved by going to our website, of course, 9/11 service.org. they can get involved in charities and businesses are doing or do something on their
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own. if you ask 1,000 different people, there's 1,000 different ways they participate in this. tomorrow, for example, people are going to be packaging up goods to send to the troops overseas and cleaning up schools and parks and donating blood and clothing. >> it's a wonderful idea and wonderful way of remembering -- both remembering and looking forward. what is your reaction to this whole koran burning controversy? >> well, it's very upsetting. somebody started an initiative whose intention is to bring people together 9/11. beyond 9/11 to see all this is very sad, really, to me. you know, it certainly doesn't seem appropriate. in fact, it's offensive to think somebody would pick 9/11 to burn religious documents regardless of the faith. it just doesn't make sense to me at all. it's upsetting. >> jay, we thank you very much.
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again, our thoughts are with you tomorrow and every day as they are with all the other families, survivors. >> thank you. >> tomorrow tomorrow on msnbc, 9/11 as it happened. watch the coverage of the events as they played out live on tv. and we'll be right back. my name is vonetta, and i suffer from allergies. [ male announcer ] we asked zyrtec® users what they love about their allergy relief, and what it lets them do. the thing i love most about zyrtec® is that it allows me to be outside. [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ] no oil has flowed into the gulf for weeks,
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but it's just the beginning of our work. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. my job is to listen to the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel and restaurant workers and find ways to help. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. bp is gonna be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal... until we make this right.
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tonight is a very important night in television. tonight, brian williams and katie couric stand up to cancer. the one-hour telethon will be on nbc, abc, cbs starting tonight at 8:00 eastern. so be there. an important -- and very important initiative. and which political story will be making headlines? we are joined from the white house lawn. it's 9/11 and that's going to
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overwhelm everything else. that's got the president and defense secretary and chairman of the joints chief. they are going to be participating in the ceremony at the pentagon. michelle obama and laura bush are going to shanksville, pennsylvania. the president will be at ground zero. all of the figures in a bipartisan way, it's going to be a very important day of reflection. it's going to be a day of service. >> right. right. it will be a day of reflection, a day of when politics are put to side and we remember that awful day nine years ago when the united states was untacked and unleashed a war on terror to this day. and certainly 24 hours from now we'll be talking about what, if anything, will come of this burning of the koran that reverend terry jones down there in gainesville, florida, says he
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was going to do, says he's not going to do now. everything is up in the air. you have everyone from the president to the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, even the vatican coming out and pleading with reverend jones not to do this and, as you were saying before, this is someone who is basking in all of the attention here. we're going to be waiting 24 hours from now, either waiting to see what he's going to do or talk about what he has done or hasn't done. >> i'm going to be watching the commemorations and doing anything that i can to not contribute to nmore than 15 minutes for this man. thank you. our thoughts are with the victims. as we continue to commemorate 9/11 here on msnbc. we're going to be talking more about this next week, of course, and that does it for me for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." have a great weekend, everyone. a stronger day for reflection for the united states. here's tamron hall with what is coming up next.
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tamron? >> hey, there, andrea. the is any of this leading to a conclusion? just a few hours ago we have the latest developments in this. plus, u.s. marines battling pirates in the gulf of aden and it's all captured on video. we'll have that for you. an incredible video to show you. we'll be right back here with more news on msnbc. could switching to geico really
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i'm tamron hall. conflicting statements, will the pastor burn the koran or will he not? and a devastating gas explosion killed at least four people and literally